Kaur's knock in vain as Edwards propels England

Harmanpreet Kaur went to the other end of the wicket and plonked her bat whenever she waltzed down the track to score a boundary in her unbeaten 109-ball 107 against England in the Women's World Cup Group A encounter on Sunday.

But her belief in the superstition did not pay off as the day belonged to England and their skipper Charlotte Edwards.

England beat India by 32 runs at Brabourne Stadium, thanks to a late burst of wickets restricting the hosts to 240/9 in 50 overs. Put in to bat, England ended with 272/8 with Edwards scoring 109.

Fine partnershipKaur rescued the side after the loss of three early wickets including in-form batsman MD Thirushkamini and skipper Mithali Raj. She anchored the innings with Karuna Jain, putting on a partnership of 106 runs. Kaur, with eight fours and two sixes in her knock, managed to keep the chase alive with her stylish stroke play. The Punjab-girl tackled the spinners with neat footwork and scored mainly off the 'V'. She also frustrated the seamers with her field-piercing placements. Jain, making a comeback in this tournament, took 92 balls for her 56 and Jhulan Goswami's pinch-hitting could yield only 19.

With 53 required in the final four overs, India hopes were all but gone with the wickets of Reema Malhotra, Amita Sharma and Nagarajan Niranjana, falling successively. In the end, Kaur was left stranded and with no choice but to see the side crumble.

However, it was player of the match Edwards who shouldered the team's responsibility en route to her seventh century. After seeing off the new ball, Edwards ensured her team posted a formidable score courtesy a half-century partnership with Lydia Greenway.